The White Sox have avoided arbitration with righty Jeff Samardzija and backstop Tyler Flowers, Dan Hayes of CSNChicago reports on Twitter. This pair, along with the already-signed Dayan Viciedo, represented the largest expected arb payouts for Chicago.
Samardzija, acquired earlier in the winter from the Athletics, will earn $9.8MM in his final pass through arbitration, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets. That represents a near match for the $9.5MM projected by MLBTR’s Matt Swartz. His relatively manageable pay rate, in spite of an excellent 2014, shows the importance of having a high first-year arb salary to build from.
Flowers will earn $2.675MM according to Mike Perchick of WAPT (Twitter link), while Swartz had pegged him to earn a shade over $2MM in his first season of eligibility. He had a solid overall year at bat in 2014, slashing .241/.297/.396 in 442 plate appearances and swatting 15 home runs.
Remember to check MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker for the latest updates.
